About Katy

Katy Mawhood is a senior graphic designer and typographer, with extensive knowledge of font technology and risk management in the publishing industry.

She graduated with distinction from MA Typeface Design at the University of Reading, where she developed a keen interest in global writing systems. Her love of travel lead her to work in Berlin and later Doha, creating dual language campaigns in Arabic and English.

My story, since 2007

After dropping out of a course in Architecture in late 2007, a good friend offered the best advice: 'find what you love to do and get someone to pay you for doing it'. For the next year and a half I relied on recruitment agencies to finance my transition to a new discipline; my free-time spent reading design literature and learning software. By 2009, I was working as a full-time professional graphic designer.

Not yet satisfied and keen to learn more, I started a BA in Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. My employer invited me to continue working part-time alongside my studies and full-time in holidays. In 2012–13, I was awarded an AHRC studentship to continue my studies to an MA Typeface Design.

Over the last three years, I have worked as the Fonts Specialist at Oxford University Press to manage costs, risks and complexity of fonts.